Social Exchange, Prison Leadership, and Inmate Misconduct

• In Event: The Pains of Imprisonment, Prisonization, and the Prison Subculture

Abstract

The current study will examine the divergent effects of prison management on inmate misconduct at the individual and institutional levels. Other studies have examined this phenomenon, but whereas previous work utilized proxies for aspects of prison management, this study specifically uses social exchange theory to apply relational leadership scales (the leader-member exchange and perceived organizational support) to examine management’s impact on inmate misconduct. This allows for a more nuanced understanding of prison leadership by measuring how it relates to line staff performance, which in turn can have an impact on rates of misconduct. Additionally, by using both individual and aggregate measures of demographic variables, the present study will be able to examine how those factors are differentially associated with behavior, such as comparing the effect of age on individual misconduct and the effect of average age of the prison population on the rate of misconduct for that prison. Data will be drawn from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons, and the leadership scales will be drawn from the Bureau of Prison’s Social Climate Survey, which is an annual survey of Federal Bureau of Prisons staff that measures several components of prison work, including personal safety, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment.

Author

• Rodger C Benefiel, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania